PAGE 15
HIV NUTRITION UPDATE
VOLUME 9, ISSUE 4

(Continued from page 14)
Chicken Soup Brigade
The Food Program of Lifelong AIDS Alliance
By  Heidi Lichtner, MA, RD, LDN

Number of Clients and Specific Population Served: There are over 1,000 unduplicated clients enrolled in Chicken Soup Brigades food services. Weekly, they prepare meals for about 400 clients and make grocery bags for about 550, some of which are also receiving meals. Their clients are ethnically diverse: 64% Caucasian; 19.2% African American; 9.6% Latino/Latina; 3.5% Native American/Alaska Native; 1% Asian/Pacific Islander; and 2.6% Mixed Race. Women make up 11.5% of the clients, 88% are male and 0.5% are transgender. The program currently has only one child who receives meals and groceries (not counting those served with Family Bags). This number is expected to grow in May as the organization's expanded mission program will be enrolling children with cancer and their families (Candelighters group).

Are all patients screened for nutritional risk? Nicole notes, "It has been a top priority of mine since arriving here but many obstacles were in the way. As of right now our Care Coordinator does the intakes into the food program, asks a few simple medical questions, and asks if the client would like to see me. It’s not a nutrition screen but it is what was in place from the previous RD’s efforts." She hopes to be able to screen all patients for nutritional risk by June.

When are patients seen? Clients are seen for nutritional counseling whenever they want, as long as time permits. Nicole has been fortunate in not having to turn anyone away yet, but her schedule can get quite full between administrative duties and one on one counseling. She notes that due to many factors, seeing patients whenever they want may become an issue in the near future.
 
 

How often do you provide nutritional assessments and follow-ups? Every initial appointment that Nicole conducts is meant to be a nutritional assessment. She spends about an hour during the first visit and in most cases is able to do a full nutritional assessment. Follow-ups are also provided as needed and Nicole tries to see all clients at least twice; no more than three months apart. If clients are at high nutritional risk, the follow up time may be scheduled for a week after their first visit. As program staffing is limited, she has only been able to see clients on a case by case basis.

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
"If clients are at high nutritional risk, the follow up time may be scheduled for a week after their first visit."
What kind of patient education materials do you offer? Nicole notes that they have a Nutrition Newsletter that is put in the main lobby solely for Lifelong clients and distributed to all Chicken Soup Brigade clients. It comes out quarterly but she hopes that it will be issued more frequently as staffing increases. Nicole notes, "I try to create materials for Chicken Soup Brigade rather than just copy public materials, but once again time is often a limiting factor. I would say it’s about 50-50 at this point. I do use a few real life examples of food labels and also computer graphics when applicable, such as showing a client’s progress toward their goals." Nicole hopes to get funding so she can use plastic food models to educate clients as well. 
 
 

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5/15/2005